Circularity and Presuppositional Apologetcs

As a Christian, my standard of truth can only be the Bible. That is not a rejection of logic. Rather, logic provides rules for combining information to produce valid results. The Bible provides the infallible truth from which I can then derive logical arguments.

In contrast, most atheists claim logic as their standard of truth (I say most, because there are some atheists who are explicit irrationalists).

The latter accuse me of circular reasoning, in that I start with the Bible as true, and from it develop my belief

in the necessary truth of the triune God, the sinfulness of men, young-earth creation, etc.

However, that accusation is full of unstated premises. First, it fails to consider the circularity of the rationalist's own worldview. Justify the use of logic without using logic in your justification. It's impossible! Second, it ignores the nature of logic, which requires external truths, but then provides rules for putting those truths into valid arguments. What is the source of the atheists external truths? No one says. And the third, the biggest one, is the assumption of autonomy, as I describe next.

The actual difference between the Christian use of logic and that of the atheist is not, therefore, that one is circular while the other is not. That is, in fact, not the case. Rather, the difference is an a priori judgment of authority. The atheist makes himself the authority in the judgment of truth. That is, he assumes the very conclusion that his logic is meant to demonstrate, that he is an autonomous master of fate. That is the destructive, even if unstated, circularity in the argument of the atheist. On that basis, the atheist excludes any evidence that requires his dependence, rather than his independence. Why must we conclude that the world as it is results from chance? Because we start with the exclusion of the possibility that it has a personal plan in its creation and organization.

The believer, however, makes no such a priori exclusion. In not assuming his autonomy, and thus excluding any evidence against it, the Christian can acknowledge the self-revelation of God in the Bible, and see everything as a demonstration of God's existence and providence. He sees that facts do not pop into existence to serve us, but fall into a necessary and good order according to their determination by the triune God, the only rational basis for the relationship between the one and the many.

Thus, the circularity of which the atheist accuses the Christian actually cuts both ways, but the atheist has the additional circularity of defining the evidence to fit his a priori assumption of autonomy.